Creamy Chowder Recipes to Warm Up Your Evening (2024)

FAQs

What ingredient does chowder always have? ›

Customarily, chowder included onion, potatoes, and cream. Nowadays, not all chowders adhere to these guidelines.

Unlike cream, which runs the risk of splitting once added, evaporated milk can be mixed into the chowder's entourage when the clams are added. Thus, a steamy bowl of clam chowder is created, whose flavor whole-heartedly sings with a warming fishy essence. It's rich, it's divine, it's utterly moreish.

The most classic and surefire way to thicken a broth-based soup is with a cornstarch slurry. Whisk together equal parts cornstarch (or arrowroot) and water or broth, then whisk it into the pot of soup. A good ratio to get to a pleasant thickness without your soup tasting goopy or heavy is one tablespoon.

Of all the different types of potatoes, I'd recommend using russet potatoes for making this soup. They're high in starch, which means they'll help thicken the soup.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

New England clam chowder is perhaps the most popular and well-known iteration of the dish. It's a classic combination of clams, onions, corn, celery, bacon or salt pork, and potatoes.

One key in choosing the right desserts to go with seafood is to match similar texture and weightiness of your dish to your dessert. For instance, if you have clam chowder for dinner, a creme brûlée should work nicely. The lightness of a lemon sorbet would work perfectly for either hamachi crudo or seared scallops.

Sour Cream, Crème Fraîche, or Mascarpone

These three ingredients can be used in place of heavy cream with a one-to-one substitution with just a few caveats. Sour cream will add tanginess to your dish, and if you use it for soups or other hot dishes, it's best to add it in at the end to avoid curdling.

To replace 1 cup (237 mL) of heavy cream in your recipe, add 2 tablespoons (19 grams) of cornstarch to 1 cup (237 mL) of milk and stir, allowing the mixture to thicken. You can use whole milk or opt for skim milk to help slash the calories and fat content of your recipe.

What is a good substitute for cream in chowder? ›

Milk + cornstarch

To replace one cup of heavy cream, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch into 1 cup milk, whisking well to break up any clumps. Cornstarch requires heat to thicken, so add the slurry to soups and sauces and simmer for at least 1 minute to activate the cornstarch.

Heavy cream

Use heavy cream as a keto-friendly thickening option for your soups and broths. Heavy cream has more fat than regular whole milk, so you can add it to your soup recipes without worrying about it curdling.

This can be done by cooking the fish in foil or by adding other ingredients to the recipe that will help to mask the strong fishy taste of the fish. Also, you can marinate the fish in a mixture of lemon juice, vinegar, and water for 30 minutes. This will help to neutralize the fishy taste.

If you'd like your chowder a little thicker, though, you can thicken it with a cornstarch slurry. Simply stir cornstarch into a small amount of cold water (or another liquid, such as wine or stock), then stir the mixture into the simmering chowder.

Chowder is a soup with cream or milk mixed with ingredients such as potatoes, sweet corn, smoked haddock, clams and prawns, etc. Some cream-style chowders do not use cream, and are instead prepared using milk and a roux to thicken them.

Chowder is a rich, creamy soup that often contains clams and potatoes. Seafood chowders are typical in the Northeast, with New England clam chowder being the most famous. Other seafood chowders skip the clams and swap in scallops, shrimp, lobster, crab or even fish like cod or smoked salmon.

A chowder is a thick, creamy soup featuring diced or chopped ingredients, left chunky for a hearty final result. Traditional chowder recipes feature seafood ingredients—for instance, clams or fish—while others forgo seafood in favor of vegetables or starches, like corn.

In other words, chowder is a very specific sort of soup. It is almost always thick and chunky (bisque, another type of soup, is generally smooth). Chowder is usually either corn based or seafood based, or both (as in our recipe for Salmon and Corn Chowder, which appeared in this space in early July).